The minister told the justice committee he intended to get involved in the operational side of the service rather than deal in abstract policyPA

The new prisons minister vowed to ensure jails are clean and decent after a watchdog report condemning conditions at Liverpool prison as the worst they could recall.

Rory Stewart said previous ministers had not felt it was their job to get involved in the operational details of running prisons, but he disagreed.

“My instinct is we need to get back to basics. We need to absolutely insist that we are going to run clean, decent prisons”, he told MPs on the justice select committee inquiring into conditions at Liverpool.

“There have been too many very abstract conversations in the past two years about grand bits of prison policy.

“We are turning up and saying, ‘Why is this a filthy prison’ and asking, ‘Why has it…

Want to read more?

Subscribe now and get unlimited digital access on web and our smartphone and tablet apps, free for your first month.